Starting in May 2015, NXT newcomer Chad Gable began a storyline with Jason Jordan, in which he tried to convince Jordan to form a new partnership, following the dissolution of Jordan's team with Tye Dillinger. After nearly two months of coaxing, Jordan finally agreed to a tag team match with Gable as his teammate. On the July 15 episode of NXT, Jordan and Gable were successful in their official debut together against the team of Elias Samson and Steve Cutler.[11] On September 2, Jordan and Gable competed in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, beating the team of Neville and Solomon Crowe. After defeating the Hype Bros, they would get eliminated from the tournament by the team of Baron Corbin and Rhyno. On the November 18 episode of NXT, Jordan and Gable would call out main roster tag team The Ascension and defeat them. On the December 2 episode of NXT, Jordan and Gable would face another pair of former NXT Tag Team ChampionsThe Vaudevillains and defeat them as well. At NXT TakeOver: London, Gable and Jordan were successful in a fatal-four way tag team match which was taped for the December 23 episode of NXT. On the January 8 tapings of NXT, the team of Jordan and Gable began using the name American Alpha. They squared off with Blake and Murphy on two separate occasions on the January 27 and February 24 episode's tapings, where they were successful both times, as well as teaming with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady against them and Dash and Dawson on the February 17 episode, where they victoriously emerged.

American Alpha faced off with the Vaudevillains on the March 16 episode of NXT in a number one contender's match where they emerged victorious, earning them an NXT Tag Team Championship match against Dash and Dawson, now called "The Revival", at NXT TakeOver: Dallas. The pair won the NXT Tag Team Championship at the event. They defeated the Vaudevillains on the April 20 episode of NXT.[12] On June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End, American Alpha lost the titles back to The Revival, ending their reign at 68 days. After the match, they were assaulted by the debuting Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar), who were managed by legendary manager, Paul Ellering.[13] The pair subsequently failed to win back the NXT Tag Team Championship after being defeated by the Revival in a two out of three falls match on the July 6th episode of NXT before wrestling their final match on the brand on July 20, where they were defeated by The Authors of Pain.

As a result of the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, the team was drafted to the SmackDown brand, being their first tag team pick overall.[14] On the August 2 episode of SmackDown, American Alpha made their debut, defeating The Vaudevillains. The pair teamed with The Usos and The Hype Bros at SummerSlam to defeat the team of The Ascension, Breezango and The Vaudevillains. The pair then entered an eight-tag team tournament which would determine the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions, defeating Breezango in the first round to advance to the semi-finals where they faced The Usos. Despite defeating The Usos quickly on the September 6th episode of SmackDown, Gable's knee was kayfabe injured during a post-match assault when the Usos turned heel, rendering American Alpha unable to compete at Backlash and undoing their attempts to become the inaugural champions.

On the December 27th episode of SmackDown Live, they defeated Randy Orton and Luke Harper of The Wyatt Family, Heath Slater and Rhyno, and The Usos in a four corners elimination match to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions, celebrating with their families afterwards.[15] After defeating The Wyatt Family (Orton and Harper) in a rematch to retain their titles on January 10th, the pair would go on to defend their titles in a tag team turmoil match at Elimination Chamber successfully against The Ascension, Usos, Vaudevillians, Breezango and Heath Slater & Rhyno, entering fourth and eliminating the Usos and Ascension, despite an attack by the Usos after their elimination, continuing their feud. American Alpha would defeat the Ascension on the following SmackDown in a rematch and then Breezango the week after, being confronted by the Usos after both matches. On the March 21st episode of SmackDown Live, American Alpha lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The Usos after suffering a non-title match loss to the pair the prior week. After making their Wrestlemania debut at WrestleMania 33 where both were unsuccessful in winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal they failed in their championship rematch to the Usos, being attacked by Primo and Epico afterwards, who defeated them the following week. American Alpha got revenge by defeating the duo the following week in a Beat the Clock Challenge.

On the June 20 episode of SmackDown, Chad Gable answered the United States Championship Open Challenge put forward by champion Kevin Owens where he was ultimately unsuccessful.[16] On the July 4 episode, he faced AJ Styles to qualify for the Independence Day Battle Royal to determine the number one contender for the U.S. Championship, but was defeated by Styles.[17] Afterwards in a WWE.com interview, Gable spoke about going solo, citing his will to fight against top competition.[18] On the July 17 episode of Raw, Jason Jordan was moved to the Raw brand after being revealed as the (kayfabe) illegitimate son of Raw General Manager Kurt Angle. This effectively disbanded the team.[19]

On the August 22 episode of SmackDown Live, General Manager Daniel Bryan announced that he had signed a returning Shelton Benjamin to team up with Gable, therefore creating a tag-team between the two. The following week on SmackDown Live, Gable and Benjamin picked up a win over The Ascension in their first match as a tag team. On the September 12 episode of SmackDown Live, Benjamin and Gable would defeat The Hype Bros and again in a rematch at Hell in a Cell. On the October 10 episode of SmackDown Live, Benjamin and Gable would defeat The Hype Bros, The Ascension and Breezango in a fatal four-way match to become the number one contenders for The Usos' SmackDown Tag Team Championship. On the November 7 episode of SmackDown Live, they received their title opportunity and won the match by countout, however the Usos retained their championships. After trading victories with The Usos the following weeks, they competed in a fatal-four way match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships against defending champions The Usos, The New Day, and the team of Rusev and Aiden English at Clash of Champions, but failed to win the titles. Two days later on SmackDown Live, Gable and Benjamin defeated The Usos in a non-title match.

On the January 2, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live, they defeated The New Day and Rusev and English in a triple threat match to earn another shot at the SmackDown Tag Team titles, which they lost the following week after pinning the wrong twin for the apparent victory and then losing the impromptu rematch. The following week on SmackDown Live, the duo called out the referee and accused General Manager Daniel Bryan of being biased, which resulted in Bryan booking them for a two out of three falls match against The Usos at Royal Rumble, where they lost in two straight falls.[20] That following week, Gable and Benjamin interrupted an episode of Fashion Files, and traded insults with Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango,) challenging them to a match, Gable and Benjamin would eventually win the match. The next week, Gable and Benjamin mocked The New Day and faced them in a losing effort.